Verizon subscriber growth plummets for Q4


Details

Michelle Clancy

| 22 January 2016




Verizon Communications was able to add just 20,000 FiOS TV customers in the fourth quarter of 2015, significantly down from the 116,000 that the telco added in the same period last year.



This represents the comms giant’s weakest growth since launching the service in 2006. FiOS TV ended the quarter with 5.8 million customers. Broadband growth also slowed in the period, as Verizon added 99,000 FiOS Internet customers, compared to 145,000 additions in the same period last year.

Verizon CFO Fran Shammo attributed a large part of the fall to cord-cutting. “We are starting to see more and more customers coming into FiOS on a broadband-only basis,” Shammo said. He added that a full third of new FiOS video customers now opt for Custom TV, the IPTV provider’s ‘skinny TV’ package.

Shammo gave few details about the company's mobile video service, Go90, but he did say that he expects profitability to be at least two years away. "Right now, we're focused on growing viewership, not necessarily profitability of the product," he said.

For the fourth quarter, Verizon reported total operating revenue of $34.3 billion, up 3.2% over Q4 2014. Revenue from FiOS operations grew 6.8% in the quarter to $3.5 billion.